U.S. Reps. John Kline and Erik Paulsen haven't yet ruled out making a run against Franken. As far as possible Republican gubernatorial challengers go, MPR reports that the names of Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, Sen. Julie Rosen, Rep. Kurt Zellers, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, and businessman Scott Honour have been kicked around.

I was never a fan of Coleman to begin with (or Pawlenty for that matter), but Dayton and his DFL cohorts are going to tax this state to death. You can talk big all you want defending him, but once you start to see your paycheck shrink..........again, and again, you have no one to blame but yourself. And who loses? Not the wealthy. The people who will suffer are the middle-class, the poor, and small business owners. And wait until the ACA kicks in next year. You will see massive reduction in worker's hours and layoffs. And the labor unions will be powerless to stop it. Now, I can't blame Dayton for the ACA, but his "let's find anything that we can tax" agenda is going to hurt Minnesotans and more importantly, small business owners. Is this what you want? I am not saying that that a Republican Governor would do any better, but I am honestly sick and tired of the 2-tier party system. Both are failures to this state and to this country. Both parties brainwash their voter base into believing that if they vote for them that somehow they will make their lives (financially and otherwise) better. The only things that these politicians care for is your vote which only benefits them, not us. Obama has been nothing but a liar and a thief since the day he took office. Likewise, the GOP are on their last legs unless they re-examine their priorities and stop the pandering to wealthy corporations while ignoring small business and the middle class. Both the DFL and the GOP cater to one type of class: Those who contribute nothing to society. In the case of the DFL, they cater to the so-called poor (i.e. welfare mothers, illegal immigrants, people who go on SS because they can't work because they have ADHD, have a drug/alcohol addiction, or their back "hurts") while the GOP caters to the multi-billion dollar corporations who could care less about their workforce, so long as they get to take advantage of tax loopholes and are allowed to source labor offshore to maintain their "bottom line". Here is the question: Who are the lesser of the two evils? The answer: Neither. Both contribute nothing society and are nothing but scum-sucking parasites. Since the middle class and small business are the backbone of our country, who is standing up for us? No ONE! Not Obama, not the GOP. Here is what we need to get our country back on it's feet: STOP corporate Welfare (yes, that even includes Obama's bailout of GM), STOP Welfare. Welfare is nothing but a temporary cure for lifelong poverty. STOP tax loopholes for the wealthy. You want them to pay their "fair share"? Then end the legal rape of them avoiding taxes. IMPOSE a penalty tax for corporation who outsource jobs. Yet, neither the DFL nor the GOP have ever proposed these sanctions. Why? Because it would compromise their voter base. We need a revolution in this country. And it starts with US. If you are sick of American bullshit politics, please email me. Go ahead and laugh at me. But I plan on running for 2016. I know I will fail, but I will try nonetheless. Because I love my country and I know that we can do better...................

Kline is already vulnerable in his own District. Losing to Franken would end his career.

PPP recently polled this race to establish base-line data for 2014.

"None of the other Republicans we tested against Dayton- Kurt Zellers,
Keith Downey, Julie Rosen, and Jeff Johnson- have greater than 33% name
recognition. They all trail Dayton by margins greater than 20 points-
Zellers and Downey each trail by 23 points at 52/29 and 53/30
respectively, Johnson trails by 24 at 53/29, and Rosen trails by 25 at
52/27."

Coleman wants the GOP to stop focusing on gay marriage, and go back to borrowing tons of money, funding shady development deals, and cooking the books so it looks like the government's in the black until your term is up.

Presumably the GOP "purity police" want actual competent politicians, not dingbats capable of
losing an incumbent Senate seat. Seriously, look up the odds against
unseating an incumbent senator, and ask yourself why any party would want
to employ Coleman again?

Yeah, the GOP wants actual competent politicians, not dingbats capable of losing an incumbent Senate seat. Seriously, look up the odds against unseating an incumbent senator, and ask yourself why a party would want to employ Coleman again?

Calling the voters stupid is a great way to win them over. And that bit where you put words into Democrats' mouths is hilarious. Take it on the road.

Still, your Party is going to lose to the guy with "the standard stupid facial expression". Maybe, in your mind, that's some kind of moral victory. To the rest of the world, it shows how irrelevant your Party is to the majority of Minnesotans.

@MotherJones Stupid nonsensical ranting that isn't based in reality? Sounds like you'd make a perfect choice to further humiliate the Republicans while handing Al Franken or Mark Dayton a 30 point win.

The "purity police" believe that a "pure conservative" without any political experience is a winning candidate for Republicans. Also, any candidate that has lost an election is a loser in their eyes, so it's better (in their estimation) to go with a novice (e.g. Chris Fields) because the novice has never lost. Coleman is branded as a loser by the "purity police".

It all goes back to a fundamental mis-reading of the 2010 elections by virtually all conservatives. Thus, conservatives believe that they can repeat 2010 by becoming ever more conservative.

In the real world, however, 2010 was about jobs. Republicans told the voters that they had a plan to increase jobs. Then, voters found out that this 'plan' consisted of beating up unions, restricting abortion, restricting voting rights, and dumping on gays. Beyond that, it was just more of the "tax cuts for the rich magically create jobs" nonsense.

Remember, Franken was supposed to be *easy* for Republicans to beat when he was up for re-election. Instead, they are going to find another human sacrifice (e.g. Mark Kennedy, Chris Fields, Joel Demos) who will be branded as a loser and insufficiently conservative by the MNGOP after the election.

@MicheleBachmann@MotherJones He does sound just like most Republicans. He apparently thinks criticising the Republicans makes him a non-Republican.

Being in any political party does not exclude someone from criticising it. His rant is reflective of the "zero-sum logic" that the Right constantly employs. Everything has to be completely one way or nothing. If there are things that you don't like about Obama, then you are compelled to vote for Romney. If you hold certain religious beliefs, then you are compelled to force them on everyone. Unless something is perfect, it's an abomination that must be destroyed. If you don't get 100% of what you want from a process, then the process is "corrupt" and you are justified in bringing everything to a halt. If someone else is wrong about something, that makes whatever crazy and mis-informed opinion that you hold to be absolutely correct.

Suppose that Kline, Bachmann, or Paulsen were to take on either Dayton or Franken. Who would replace them in their District in the unlikely event they would win?

The evangelical faction of the MNGOP has been forced to recycle losing candidates (e.g. Quist) already. Kurt Bills was the best that the libertarian faction could come up with, and he's been tagged as a loser now.

We keep hearing from conservatives about how bad Dayton and Franken are. This only proves how weak and depleted the MNGOP is, though. If Franken and Dayton are so awful, why can't the Republicans find someone who can beat them? Virtually every elected Republican has been forced to support the losing side in the Culture War battles, and that's all a matter of public record.

@MNjoe I find it shocking a party lead by Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck has become a party of stupid bigot clowns who you wouldn't trust to be in charge of a lemonade stand much less the most powerful nation on Earth. Shocking.